View from the Cemetery of the Fir Park

Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection

The rising ground to the east of Glasgow Cathedral, known as the Fir Park, had belonged to the Merchants' House since 1650. In 1825 a statue of John Knox was erected on a column at the highest point in the park and in 1833 the site was acquired to serve as a Necroplolis - a city of the dead, inspired by the Pere Lachaisse cemetery in Paris. The graves and sepulchral monuments in the Necropolis are mainly those of merchants and other wealthy Glaswegians.

This view looking west from the Necropolis c 1840 shows in the middle distance the "Bridge of Sighs", built to span the Molendinar Burn and connect Glasgow Cathedral with the Necropolis.

Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 338.64 MER

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning